Writings, Wanderings

  Alma and How She Got Her Name  by Juana Martinez-Neal was my favorite children's book read for the month of January. As my blog entry for it says, this story was so much more than I expected, and I highly recommend checking it out. I really appreciated the honest, strong message in When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton. This book is a very respectful introduction to what some indigenous children in Canada faced, a story that was paralleled in some places in the United States as well. Little Pea  by Amy Rosenthal was a four-star read for me. It was just so cute! How many parents (aunts, uncles, babysitters) can relate to a young kid not wanting to eat their vegetables? Well, this tale turns that idea upside-down: Little Pea desperately wants to get to eat his dessert of vegetables but first he has to face eating sweets for dinner. I also love the clean, minimalist drawings of the book. After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat...

Do you set New Year's resolutions? For some reason about a decade ago, I stopped calling my goals for the new year resolutions and instead created a list of Things To Do. This shift suited me much better and I enjoyed having a focus for what I wanted to experience in my life. Plus the lists helped me keep track of where I was on hitting the goals (I had too much fun highlighting each activity a different color based on how far I had progressed towards reaching that goal.) I didn't do a list in 2019. I think I let myself get too busy. Developing my writing and everything that goes with sharing my work in the world has been a far bigger task than I anticipated a year ago. I am so grateful for this opportunity, but I know I got overwhelmed at times. Just look at this poor blog--this is my first entry in over four months! So anyway I want to spend the next several days creating my Things To Do in 2020 list, but I already have one idea in mind related to books: Read 365 books. B...